A wildfire that broke out in a forest area in the Pyli area of ​​the island of Kos is ongoing, causing a large mobilization of the fire brigade and the services involved. The fire started around 7:30 in the evening on Friday, August 14, 2026, initially in low -vegetation area of Pyli located in the […]

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A Turkish-flagged sailing catamaran with ten passengers onboard sank near the area west of the islet of Fleves in the Saronic Gulf on Friday. All passengers, foreign nationals, have been rescued. An alarm was raised in the sea area west of Fleves islet after a Turkish-flagged sailing catamaran carrying 10 foreign nationals began to sink. […]

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A 59-year-old man has been arrested in northern Greece and admitted to have started several fires claiming stress at work. He has been remanded in custody pending trial on repeated arson charges with intent. He confessed to have started six fires between between August 8 and 11, 2026. in dry grass, reeds and agricultural land […]

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At the peak of the tourist season and the tax evasion, officers of tax authorities decided to launch a 10-day strike and abstain from inspections. While the Independent Public Revenues authority AADE intensifies inspections in tourist destinations in the “heart” of August 15, the decision of the Panhellenic Federation of Tax Officials (POE-DOY) to proceed […]

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Port authorities imposed a sailing ban from the ports of Lavrio and Rafina in south-eastern Attica on Friday, August 14, 2026, while some ferry itineraries from the port of Piraeus were cancelled on Friday morning due to gale-force winds. Mostly affected by the strong winds are the islands in the Aegean Sea and Crete. Modifications […]

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The Civil Protection in Greece is warning again on Friday of Extreme Fire Risk – State of Alert -(Risk Category 5) for Attica and two other regions in the country as well as of Very High Fire Risk (Risk Category 4) for another eleven regions for today August 14, 2026. Reason for the Extreme circumstances […]

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A wildfire that broke out in Siviri on the first leg of Halkidiki peninsula on Thursday has already burned down houses and led to evacuations of big numbers of locals and tourists from the coastal village and surrounding areas. The fire broke out in low vegetation around 2 o’ clock early afternoon on August 13, […]

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A new incident of an injury of a tourist from aircraft turbine blasts occurred outside the Skiathos airport short after 12 noon on Thursday, August 13,2026. The Italian woman was reportedly caught in the vortex of gases and knocked down during the airplane take off. According to state broadcaster ERT, the woman in her early […]

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The Council of State annulled operating licenses for three private universities in Greece, following an appeal by a professor of the public Law School of Athens. The Council of State proceeded with the annulment of three operating licenses of private (non-state) universities, as announced on Thursday afternoon. As announced on Thursday, August 13, 2026, the […]

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A significant increase in West Nile virus infections is being recorded in Greece, with 45 new locally acquired cases reported over the past week, bringing the total number to 110 since the start of the 2026 season through 12 August. Of these, 81 patients developed severe central nervous system manifestations, while nine deaths have also […]

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The Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (HHF) acknowledges the significance of establishing the special spatial planning framework for Tourism as a necessary tool for national sector planning, according to a relevant announcement. However, the HHF has expressed concern that key provisions of the framework continue to rely on horizontal restrictions, that fail to adequately take into account […]

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Greece’s Civil Protection is warning of Extrem Fire Risk  – State of Alert -(Risk Category 5) or Attica and four other regions in Greece as well as of Very High Fire Risk (Risk Category 4) for another eleven regions for today, Thursday, August 13, 2026. Reason for the Extreme circumstances are gale-force north-eastern winds blowing […]

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As Mainers continue to target Sen. Susan Collins’ office with protests following a recent killing by an immigration agent, new reporting shows how some of the $70 billion she and her GOP colleagues gave to President Donald Trump’s immigration agencies is being spent.

According to the Associated Press on Tuesday:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.

ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The devices are known as the GLOVE, which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.

As the company’s website explains, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks, or scars.” It describes them as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform.”

As if ICE wasn’t sadistic enough, the agency plans to spend up to $20 million to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shockshttps://t.co/y5yMRYecLr

— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) August 12, 2026

John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told the AP that the sensation is “immediate and sharp,” comparing it to a “bee sting.”

While he said it could be an effective tool to prevent “resistance,” he warned that it should not be used as a form of punishment against those merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women, or elderly or disabled people.

But given the recent record of rampant civil rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, and efforts to lie about misconduct, civil rights advocates are warning that these gloves are being placed into, or onto, the exact wrong hands.

“ICE spent the last year showing this country that they are willing to disregard the law and are too quick to use force, with devastating and at times fatal consequences for citizens and noncitizens alike,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Common Dreams. “Now they might be equipped with a device that allows them to deliver an electric shock with their hands by pushing a small button, in a move that might be imperceptible to those watching.”

Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, concurred, telling Common Dreams that ICE is a “rogue agency with an $80 billion slush fund that allows them to concoct and fund new ways to visit cruelty upon our communities.”

“Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting and barbaric,” Matos added. “Congress must end the blank check to ICE, and ICE must get out of our communities.”

The shock gloves are just one way that immigration agencies are spending the $70 billion in additional funding they were given back in June, when Republicans in the Senate voted 52-47 to authorize the funding despite rampant lawlessness. Only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), voted against supercharging the funding.

In a July 16 letter to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, Collins defended her vote for the increased ICE funding by pointing to “reforms” passed in April as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s broader appropriations bill, which included $20 million for body cameras and $2 million for “de-escalation” training.

Collins’ office did not immediately respond when asked by Common Dreams whether she believes electric shock gloves were a good form of “de-escalation.”

A five-term senator in the midst of a fierce reelection bid against Democrat Troy Jackson has taken fierce criticism for her vote to support ICE on the campaign trail, which has only grown in intensity since July’s fatal shooting of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford.

It was one of two fatal shootings of men without criminal records over the course of a week. ICE later acknowledged that the victims were not the target of their operations.

When asked after the shooting, Collins declined to say that she regretted her vote for increased ICE funding.

Protesters who gathered outside Collins’ Biddeford office on Tuesday said she should.

“$70 billion to fund the terror that left my family and community in fear,” Fernanda McLaughlin, a Maine resident and community organizer, said over the loudspeaker, according to NBC News Center Maine. “You know what that money can be really used for? To feed Mainers. To fund our schools. To fund our health system.”

“There were no guardrails included, and she still voted yes on it,” McLaughlin said. “Simple guardrails that exist in nearly every other law enforcement agency across our nation.”

A mysterious “flying object”, a strange “cloud” that appeared in the sky in Greece on Tuesday evening, shortly before the sunset, caused concern and curiosity among residents of southeastern Attica, Crete and some other islands yesterday, August 11, 2026. Images and eyewitnesses claimed that there was no other cloud in the sky at that time. […]

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A 17-year-old boy died of electrocution allegedly due to a failure in the water heater of the house he was accommodated on the island of Kimolos in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. The teenager boy from Ireland was on summer vacation together with his mother and lost his life while he was taking […]

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Two touristic vessels collided in the sea area of Voutoumi Bay off the island of Antipaxos in the Ionian Sea at noon on Tuesday, August 11. A total of 214 passengers were onboard of the two vessels and watched in horror what was happening right in front of their eyes. The small boat had 10 […]

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Greek long jump athlete Miltos Tentoglou won gold during the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Tuesday night. His jumps ranged between 8.19 and 8.44, clinching his victory with 8.44, his highest score during his fourth and last attempt. 28-year-old Tentoglou added his fourth gold medal at successive European championships, securing a position as the […]

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The first total solar eclipse in 27 years is happening today, 12. August 2026, and together with the rest of the world also Greeks are awaiting with great anticipation the rare phenomenon, asking when and where it will be visible. The world is preparing for one of the most important astronomical phenomena in recent years, […]

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Greece’s Civil Protection warns of Very High Fire Risk (risk category 4) for Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Strong northerly winds and hot-dry weather prevail across the country also today. According to the Fire Risk Forecast Map issued by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Climate Crisis & Civil Protection a Very […]

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The charred body of a man was found inside a car on fire on Tuesday when firefighters rushed to extinguish a fire in Pikermi village in eastern Attica, on August 11, 2026. The fire on the vehicle is believed to have started a wildfire in the surrounding area. The body reportedly belonged to a man, […]

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